Shirt.



PATENTED MAR. 5, 1907.

L. BERNSTEIN.

SHIRT.

APPLICATION FILED 1330.18, 1906.

THE NORRIS mm: co..'wAsumcTau. 0. 5

LEWIS BERNSTEIN, OF GRAFTON, WEST VIRGINIA.

SHIRT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 5, 1907..

Application filed December 18. 1906. Serial No. 348,424.

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEwIs BERNSTEIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grafton, in the county of Taylor and State of West Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shirts, of which the follow ing is a specification.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in shirts, shirt-waists, and the like and garment-supporting means attached to the inner side thereof and having ends adapted to be carried through the shirt or shirt-waist and to attach to the waistband of the trousers, said shirt or shirt-waist having means for maintaining the garment-supporting means invisible and said garmentsupporting means being adjustably attached to the shirt or shirt-waist to adjust the height of the trousers and being themselves adjustable or capable of being lengthened or shortened.

The essential object of the invention is to avoid the use of the conventional suspenders and belt and to thereby conduce to the comfort of the wearer, especially in warm weather, and to provide means whereby the weight of the trousers may be suspended directly from the shirt.

My invention consists of the parts and the construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, which I will hereinafter describe and claim.

In the accompanying drawings, forming art of this specification, and in which similar reference characters indicate like parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a front view of a shirt embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same. Fig. 3 is a view of one of the garment supporters or attachments and a fragment of a shirt. Fig. 4 is a modification to be referred to. Fig. 5 is an edge view of one of the garment-supporters.

The present improvements are applicable to any of the conventional forms or types of shirts or shirt-waists, whether stiff or soft bosom or open front or back. Consequently A may represent any of the usual and wellknown styles of shirt or shirt-waist, although forillustrative purposes I have selected a shirt of the open-front type having a front a with a bosom b, a back portion 0, and sleeves (Z.

The front of the shirt is fashioned with a skirt or apron portion a, which is entirely separated along its side edges from the corresponding edges of the back portion from the lower end to a point at or near a line which substantially corresponds to the bottom of the bosom portion, these separated portions forming plackets j, which are arranged vertically in a plane which approximates that of the outer edges of the bosom and a plane which is about midway of the.

usual front and side buttons on the waistband of the trousers. In other words, the plackets are preferably arranged forward of the usual side seams of the shirt and below and slightly to one side of the vertical plane of the edge of the shirt-bosom.

The side edges of the skirt or apron, as also the like edges of the back, are finished in some appropriate manner, preferably by the facing-strips g on the edge of the apron or skirt and like strips h on the edges of the back, the said facing-strips 9 extending to any desired height say from the lower edge of the apron up along the outer edges or sides of the bosom portion of the shirt to a point approximately to the shouldersthereby reinforcing the shirt along the side edges of the bosom. It is not of course essential for my present purposes that the facing-strip 9 should extend to the shoulder portion of the shirt, for it may, if desired, terminate at its upper end at any point below the shoulder.

The front and back sections of the shirt are so fashioned that when the facing-strips are applied said strips lie in overlapping planes, which results in a finished placket being formed, but which placket is substantially closed by the front facing-strip g overlapping the rear strip h when the skirt of the shirt, which is composed of the apron e and the lower portion of the back-section, is stuffed into the trousers in the usual manner.

Through the facing-strips g and the body of the shirt underlying the same are made one or more eyelets i, which are herein shown in a vertical row and disposed at more or less regular distances apart, the lowest of the eyelets being located slightly above the upper end of the placket and the uppermost eyelet being at any point below the shoulder that I may find suitable or desirable for my pur pose. These eyelets are primarily intended as adjusting means for suitable garment-supporters; but they also serve as ventilatingopenings, a feature greatly desired in warm weather.

The garment-supporting means are arranged at each side of the shirt, and each LL44 4 W444 l.

comprises a suitable button 10 of any desired design and configuration and of any suitable material. The button has a shank of eye form which is designed to be passed through any of the aforesaid eyelets to the inside of the shirt, the eye 12 of the shanks being engaged by a detachable ring 13 of the usual split or other form, as shown in Fig. 4. This ring is of sul'licient size to properly receive the pairs of loops-14 1 1, which may be more or less in the nature of the usual suspender-ends, but which are preferably each made of a piece of elastic folded upon itself at 15 and having this folded portion stitched together and provided with a buttonhole 16. The free end of this folded portion of each elastic is provided with a metal or other loop 18. The other part of the folded portion is extended and passed through the ring 13 and thence returned and passed through the loop 18 on the "first-named end of the elastic and finally folded back upon itself and having its extremity provided with a buckle 19 of some appropriate type, which is designed to enable the elastic supporters to be lengthened or shortened, as desired.

The ordinarySuspender-ends, either elastic or inelastic, with a suitable cast-off 20 to hook into or otherwise engage the ring 13, may also be used as the supporter, if desired 2 but I prefer for my purposes the elastics, substantially as previously described, with their permanently-attached split ring detachably engaging the eye of the button-shank.

Byreason of the foregoing arrangement the button may be engaged with any of the eyelets, and the lower. ends of the supporters 1.4 14;, which term I will hereinafter apply to the elastic loops and their recognized equivalents, may be assed through the plackets or openings f an the buttonholes 16made to engage the front and side buttons on the waistband of the trousers, and this whether said buttons are upon the outside or inside of said waistband. The overlapping of the aforesaid facing-strips g h practically conceals the ends of the supporters from view; but if there should be a tendency of any part to show it may be cured by pulling up the skirt of the shirt sufficiently to provide a fullness about the waist-line, which fullness will hang loosely over the waistband and effectually shut out from view all parts of the supporters. The purpose of these supporters and their arrangement on the inside of the shirt is to enable me to dispense with the usual suppenders, which pass over the shoulders and are annoying in hot weather and also unsightly when worn with the shirt-waist or the usual summer or outing shirt, and to dispense with belts and allow the short supporters to be used to support the trousers direct from the shirt, the reinforcement of the shirt by the facing-strips being suflicient to prevent any damage being done to the shirt by rea- I son of the strain put upon it. If, however, it is desired to wear the usual suspenders, they may be worn under the shirt, and thereby concealed from View, and the suspenderends may be passed through the plackets from inside the shirt and buttoned to the trousers and concealed thereby in the manner before described.

Referring now to the back of the shirt, (shown in Fig. 2,) it will be seen that said back is split vertically through the center from the lower end to a suitable point above to form a placket f, the edges of which are reinforced by the facing-strips g h substantially in the manner described for the front plackets g h, the said facing-strips being arranged in overlapping planes and the outermost of said strips 9 being extended to a point well up the back and said strip g and the corresponding portion of the back portion of the shirt-body being provided with one or more or, as shown, a vertical row of eyelets t" to receive the shank of the but-ton 20, said button having its eye 21 detachably engaged by the split ring 22, to which the elastics or supporters 23 23 are attached, the arrangement of these back supporters being essentially the same as described for the front supporters, and said back supporters having their ends adapted to extend into the rear placket and to engage the buttons on the back part of the waistband of the trousers, with the facing-strips of the back placket concealing the ends of the supporters from view in the manner described for the front supporters.

By means of the back supporters the rear portion of the trousers is supported directly from the shirt, and both front and back supporters may be moved to higher or lower planes by detaching their rings from the eyes of the buttons and moving the buttons to higher or lower eyelets, as the circumstances may make desirable or necessary.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A shirt having a skirt fashioned with plackets in its front portion forward of the usual side seams, said shirt having a vertical series of ventilating-openings proximate to each of said side seams, and short trouserssupporters concealed on the inside of the shirt and having means detachably engaging said openings to adjust the vertical point of attachment of the supporters, said supporters having their ends adapted to pass through said plackets and to attach to the front and side buttons of the waistband of trousers.

2. A shirt having a skirt fashioned with plackets in its front portion forward of the usual side seams, said plackets extending to and through the lower edge of the skirt, facing-strips secured to the edges of the plackets and arranged in overlapping planes, short trousers-supporters attached to the inside of the shirt and having ends adapted to be passed through the plackets and to attach to the front and sides of the trouserswaistband, said facing-strips being provided with vertical rows of openings whereby the vertical height of the point of attachment of the supporters to the shirt may be varied.

3. A garment of the character described fashioned with slits in its front portion for ward of the usual side seams, facing-strips secured to the edges of the slitted. portions and arranged to overlap, one of said strips of each slitted portion being vertically ex tended beyond the other strip and provided with adjusting eyelets, buttons having shanks adapted to be passed through said eyelets to inside the garment, and garmentsupporters detachably connected to the shanks of the buttons and having attaching ends to be extended through the slits of the said front portion and to attach to the waistband of trousers, said facing-strips serving to conceal said attaching ends from the outside.

4. A shirt having slits in the front portion of its skirt extending to and through the lower edge thereof, said skirt having adjusting-holes arranged substantially in vertical order and forming ventilating-openings for said shirt, in combination with fasteners engageable with said holes and extending to the interior of the shirt, and garment-supporters normally concealed beneath the shirt and having means for detachably engaging said fasteners, said supporters having their lower or free ends adapted to be passed into the slits and to attach to the front and side buttons of trousers.

5. A shirt having the skirt of its back portion vertically slitted in the center, facingstrips secured to the edges of the slitted portion and arranged to overlap each other, one of said strips being extended up along the back to a point above the slit, said extended portion being provided with adjusting-eye lets arranged in vertical order, fasteners adapted to engage said eyelets and to extend to the inside of the shirt, and garment-supporters normally concealed beneath the shirt and having means for detachably engaging the inner ends of the fasteners, said supporters having free ends adapted to be passed into the slit and to attach to the rear buttons on the Waistband of trousers.

6. A shirt having slits in the front portion of its skirt and a slit in the vertical central portion of its back, said shirt having adjustin holes arranged in vertical order substantially in line above each of said slits, buttons having shanks adapted to pass through any of said holes to the inside of the shirt, short garment-supporters having means whereby their upper ends detachably engage with said shanks, and having lower ends capable of divergence and to be passed into said slits and to attach to the waistband of trousers.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEWIS BERNSTEIN. Witnesses:

H. W. CHADDUOK, CHAs. W. STEEL. 

